He felt lost and weak not knowing was going on behind the closed door that sat just ahead of him. No one had come to inform him what was going on with Riley, but instead they would just walk by him glancing at the mess that he was with sorry eyes.

Letting out a long sigh, his head fell into his hands, on the verge of letting everything that he was holding in go. He had been up for more than twenty- four hours, his body and mind in desperate need of sleep. But he feared as soon as he allowed his eyes to close that something would happen to her, and no one would inform him.

“Tyler?”

His head lifted slowly, one of his two sisters running towards him.

“Mom, I found him!” Cassidy yelled.

She had taken the empty seat beside him, noticing the red swollen cheeks, and the tired baggy eyes that her brother was supporting. He glanced upward at her, obviously not expecting that she’d be taking the trip with his mother, but thankful nonetheless that she was there. Cassidy opened her arms, pulling his head into her chest, where he completely broke down in the middle of the waiting room.

“Ty, shhh it’s going to be okay,” she soothed.

Her eyes caught a hold of their mothers, who’s frantic, panicked, expression seemed to be relived as soon as she caught sight of her children.

Tyler wiped his wet eyes, feeling like the world’s largest pussy for breaking down in front of his family. He told himself countless amount of times that he would never breakdown when he had to be strong, he said it when his parents divorced, and he said it in the back of the ambulance on the way to the hospital, but there he was crying like a baby in front of his mom and little sister.

“What’s going on? What’ve they told you?”

The amount of concern in Jackie’s voice made it seem like it was one of her own children in the hospital.

Tyler shook his head, his chest constricting just thinking about what they were doing to her to save her life.

“I don’t know, they won’t tell me anything.”

Jackie shook her head, patting his shoulder before walking over to the nearly empty nurses station.

“You know Ty, if you want answers mom’s the person whose going to get them for you,” Cassidy said, letting out a chuckle to lighten the mood.

Glancing over towards his baby sister, he smiled and nodded his head. He hadn’t realized how grown up she actually was until it was her taking care of him. She rubbed his back, the same way Riley would after a tough game, giving him the most sympathetic look possible, as he watched his mother demand answers at the nurses station.

Jackie walked back over to her children within minutes of being at the front desk, as satisfied smile sat on her lips.

“She’s still in surgery, but they’ve contacted her parents, and expect her to be out within the next couple of hours.”

He let out a relived sigh, “Thanks mom.”

It set his mind at ease knowing that was okay, at least for now. But he still wouldn’t be able to relax until he got to see her for himself.

He pulled his phone out of his pocket, punching a few buttons to send a text to Fred and Brittany. He had forgotten about Marshall at Riley’s apartment and was hoping that they’d be able to check on him. It didn’t even cross his mind to call them before his mom. It was safe to assume that they probably wanted to know what had happened, after all Brittany was one of Riley’s best friends, it made sense, but right now nothing was making sense to him.

“Honey, we’re going back to the hotel to check in and grab something to eat. You’ll be okay here? I’ll bring you something back.”

“Yeah. I’ll be fine. Freddy should probably be here soon anyway.”

He kissed his mother on the cheek, thankful that she was beside him through this, he wasn’t sure what he would’ve done if he were alone.

Taking a seat as he watched his mother and sister leave, he scrolled through his social media, trying to take his mind off the fact that he was sitting in a hospital waiting room, waiting for his girlfriend to get out of emergency surgery.

“Are you here with Riley White?”

Tyler lifted his head, noticing a doctor standing in front of him his blue scrubs stained with blood, her blood. He nodded, standing to meet the height of the doctor in front of him.

“Hi, I’m Doctor Conway. I was the one who operated on Riley when she was brought in.”

The man standing before Tyler stuck his hand out for an introduction, something that he was hesitant about shaking only because it was obvious the man had just gotten out of surgery, where he had a person cut open on an operating table, that person being Riley.

“Tyler.”

“Tyler,” The man repeated. “Nice to meet you. Riley did well in surgery, and we’re hoping for a full recovery. Now she did have excessive trauma to her head, and we patched up some internal bleeding. She also had three broken ribs, and a broken arm.”

He let out a long breath. He hadn’t even noticed that he was holding his breath until the doctor had opened his mouth to speak.

“What do you mean by hoping for a full recovery?”

Doctor Conway closed his eyes hoping that their conversation wouldn’t come to something like this. He saw the desperation in Tyler’s eyes, knowing that if he were in the same position that he’d want to know every possible detail, but he didn’t know exactly how to tell him that the girl that he had operated on would probably never be the same.

“We just need to pray. With the amount of trauma that she endured, there’s no knowing how things are going to work out when she wakes up, if she wakes up.”

Tyler curled his hands into fist, the anger boiling up in his body. He remembered as a child his dad telling him to never hit a woman it made you a coward. That always stuck in his head, and he always wondered how someone could actually hurt someone so innocent. Now, with the amount of girls that he had been involved with almost always was he bigger than them. He couldn’t even think of having that unfair advantage over 170-pound hockey player never mind a 140-pound young woman.

“When can I see her?”

Doctor Conway placed a firm hand on Tyler’s shoulder, calming the nerves that had been building up.

“We’re setting her up in ICU, as soon as she’s ready I’ll come down to get you.”

Tyler thanked the doctor, and found the plastic chair that he had grown all too accustomed to. He unlocked his phone’s screen once again, reading the texts messages from Candace, his mom, Freddy, and Brittany. Almost all of them were the same, leaving him with little to no effort to want to reply back.

He glanced around the waiting room area, which seemed to have filled up a bit since he had gotten there earlier that morning. He tried to figure out the stories of every couple in there, something to pass the time while he waited for Riley. A little girl around the age of six sat just ahead of him with a cut on her nose deep enough to need a stitch or two, and he decided that she was probably just clumsy and fallen off her bike. A pregnant woman sat on the other side of the room; she rubbed her swollen belly as her husband sat beside her, scribbling nervously against the clipboard that was in his lap. The scene put a smile on his face, and he imagined that one day he’d be in the same position, maybe even with Riley. He knew that it had only been a few months since they started dating, but he could see himself with her, in the waiting room of the hospital waiting for their child to arrive. It was strange he that he even thought of it, maybe it was his brain telling him that he was tired and delirious of thinking that far ahead in their relationship, but it wasn’t a thought he didn’t go a day without thinking about.

“Hi I’m looking for Riley White?”

Tyler’s head popped up at her name, noticing the middle-aged man standing at the nurse’s station.

“You’re looking for Riley?” Tyler asked.

The man looked to be about the same age as his parents, late fifties. His eyes were a blue-green, a color that he had grown familiar with during the past six months. The smallest things gave away exactly who he was, like the way his lips pursed, as he looked Tyler up and down, and the way he crossed showing his arms, showing him that the man before him hadn’t the slightest clue to who he was in relation to his daughter.

“I’m Tyler.”

Riley’s father relaxed a bit at his name. Gesturing towards the waiting area, where Tyler practically lived for most of the day. They had taken a seat at the two empty seats furthest from anyone else in the waiting room. It made Tyler nervous knowing that he was sitting next to Riley’s father. They had never met before, and to meet now under the circumstances was a little unflattering.

“Chris. I’ve heard so much about you.”

Tyler’s eyebrows rose. It kind of shocked him that Chris knew about him but he barely knew anything about Chris. He had only heard about her family a dozen times or so, and knew that she went to visit them at least once a week. He also knew that they were close, and that she a had a younger sister that looked up to her, but he never thought that she actually went to her parents and talked about them as a couple, or even him in general.

“Really?”

Chris smiled, “Yeah. You’re the hockey player that has my daughter head over heels.”

Tyler’s eyes softened as he watched Chris talk about Riley in a way that he’d only imagine himself talking about his own daughter. He knew that under the circumstances that it couldn’t have been easy to get the phone call hearing that your daughter was in the hospital, nearly beaten to death.

“… You treat her right, and that’s what she deserves after everything she’s been through.”

Tyler nodded, “Yes sir.”

Chris placed a hand on Tyler’s shoulder. “Tyler, you can call me Chris.”

They both laughed, Tyler’s cheeks reddening as he flashed a toothy grin rubbing his hand on the back of his neck.

“I’ll try to remember that for next time.”

Just as they had fallen into a comfortable silence, Doctor Conway from before entered through the double doors that he had exited from.

“She’s ready for you.”

Notes

Thank you for all your support! It means so much to me!! Hope you like the new update!

Stay Classy
xx